Cum Petro et Sub Petro

With Peter & Under Peter

Thursday, May 2, 2013

3 Feast Days

I missed a post re 3 great Saints whose feast days were very recent.
Gianna Beretta Molla was born in Magenta (near Milan) on October 4, 1922.
She was the tenth of thirteen children of Alberto and Maria De Micheli. A good student both at high school and university, she lived her faith with generosity among the young women who were part of the “Azione Cattolica” (Catholic Action). Gianna also put her faith in action amidst the elderly and needy through the work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. She loved life, music, art, skiing and mountain climbing! In 1949 Gianna received a degree in medicine at the University of Pavia. The following year she opened a clinic in Mesero and continued her studies with a specialization in pediatric medicine at the University of Milan in 1952. For Gianna, being a doctor was not just a profession but a vocation.On September 24, 1955 Gianna and Pietro Molla were married in St Martin’s Basilica in Magenta. In November 1956, her first son Pierluigi was born. Mariolina was born in December 1957 and Laura in July 1959. Gianna was a happy mother. Gianna knew how to balance her duties as mother, wife, doctor in Mesero and in Ponte Nuovo (near Magenta) with her great “joie de vivre”.
In September 1961, toward the end of the second month of pregnancy with her fourth child, the young Italian doctor and mother of a family, had to make a heroic decision. Physicians diagnosed a serious fibroma in the uterus that required surgery. The surgeon suggested that she undergo an abortion in order to save her own life. A few days before the child was due, she was ready to give her life in order to save that of her child: “If you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate: Choose the child – I insist on it. Save the baby.” She gave herself entirely, generating new life.
On April 21, 1962 Gianna Emanuela was born by caesarian section at the hospital in Monza. Immediately after the operation, Gianna’s general condition started to worsen. She had a very high fever and terrible abdominal pains caused by septic peritonitis. On April 28, 1962, at dawn, Gianna was taken back to the family home in Ponte Nuovo where she died at 8 a.m. She was 39 years old. She was buried in the cemetery of Mesero. She soon became known for the sanctity of her life and her final gesture of great love.
It was Pope John Paul II who beatified Gianna in 1994 and canonized her in 2004. Gianna’s husband and children were present at each of the ceremonies.
source:
Also,check out->Saint GiannaExcellent site.St Gianna's feast day is Apr 28.
The next feast is Saint Zita,who i chose for my confirmation name.Her feast day is April 27th.
St. Zita was born into a poor but holy Christian family. Her older sister became a Cistercian nun and her uncle Graziano was a hermit whom the local people regarded as a saint. Zita herself always tried to do God's will obediently whenever it was pointed out to her by her mother. At the age of twelve Zita became a housekeeper in the house of a rich weaver in Lucca, Italy, eight miles from her home at Monte Sagrati. As things turned out, she stayed with that family for the last forty-eight years of her life. She found time every day to attend Mass and to recite many prayers, as well as to carry out her household duties so perfectly that the other servants were jealous of her. Indeed, her work was part of her religion! She use to say: "a servant is not holy if she is not busy; lazy people of our position is fake holiness." At first, her employers were upset by her generous gifts of food to the poor, but in time, they were completely won over by her patience and goodness and she became a very close friend. St. Zita was given a free reign over her working schedule and busied herself with visits to the sick and those in prison. Word spread rapidly in Lucca of her good deeds and the heavenly visions that appeared to her. She was sought out by the important people, and at her death in 1278 the people acclaimed her as a saint. She is the patroness of domestic workers.
Source:Catholic Saints Online
Last but not least a short biography of St Pope Pius V.
St. Pius V (Latin: Pius PP. V, Italian: Pio V; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri, O.P.), was Pope from 1566 to 1572 and is a saint of the Catholic Church.[1] He is chiefly notable for his role in the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation, and the standardization of the Roman rite within the Latin Church. Pius V declared Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church and patronized prominent sacred music composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
As a cardinal, Ghislieri gained a reputation for putting orthodoxy before personalities, prosecuting eight French bishops for heresy. He also stood firm against nepotism, rebuking his predecessor Pope Pius IV to his face when he wanted to make a 13-year old member of his family a cardinal and subsidise a nephew from the Papal treasury.
In affairs of state, Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth I of England for schism and persecutions of English Catholics during her reign. He also arranged the formation of the Holy League, an alliance of Catholic states. Although outnumbered, the Holy League famously defeated the Ottoman Empire, which had threatened to overrun Europe, at the Battle of Lepanto. This victory Pius V attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory.Read more at Catholic.org/Saints. Remarkable Pope.His feast day is April 30th.
St Pope Pius V